The 1987 Coup Incident: Who Is Charlotte Datiles? (Updated With Butch Abad Statement)

Given the current political season, I was wont to simply dismiss a story like this simply part of some amateur black propaganda attempt.

But it now seems to be taking a life of its own and is landing on the doorstep of both the Liberal Party and its standard bearer, Sen. Benigno ‘Noynoy’ Aquinp III.
And it certainly cannot just be waved away:

Poison text messages are regurgitating yesterday’s story on the sequestered newspaper People’s Journal and why leading mainstream news outpit are ignoring the stoey about the alleged 1987 death of a rumoured lady companion of Aquino in 1987.

As the Journal story titled “Website speaks about Noynoy’s ‘dark past’ goes:

Years before the People’s Tonight came up with the identity of Charlotte Datiles, the young Miriam College student who was shot dead by rebel soldiers while she was with leading presidential candidate Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III during the August 1987 coup d ‘etat, it was learned that there were comments about the incident being posted already on a local website.

The website called PinoyExchange has a dedicated space on critics and defenders of the only son of the revered late President Corazon C. Aquino, People’s Tonight discovered while writing the story on Datiles.”

The montage above reconstructs the comment thread in Pinoy Exchange which usually carries discussions on technology and electronic gadget trends.

The Journal report goes on to say:

The incident now appears to haunt Senator Aquino at a time when he is on the turning point of his political career. In the incident, three of Noynoy’s security escorts were reported killed.

However, People’s Tonight learned that one of the “bodyguards” was a young and beautiful student of an exclusive school for girls: “Charlotte Datiles.”

Datiles, a student of Miriam College, was reportedly a girlfriend of Noynoy.

Datiles was never identified by Malacañang or in any police report. Media reports quoting Noynoy said that three of his companions were killed in the attack. Two of them were identified as “Sergeants Alvaro and Santos.” The third fatality, who turned out to be the young Datiles, was never identified by the Palace or by Noynoy.

Several sources including a relative of the slain student who spoke with the Journal Group on condition of anonymity answered the PinoyExchange website comment when they confirmed that Datiles died while she was with Aquino although she was never mentioned in any report or statement given by the Palace or the male Aquino to the public.

For unknown reasons, however, the relative has declined to return calls by People’s Tonight over the past several days as well as a request for her picture or even say where is she buried.”

This is to refute the malicious allegations raised in an article entitled “Noynoy’s Dark Secret” written by Alfred Dalizon and published in the October 26, 2009 edition of the People’s Journal.
This is an old story and it is unfortunate that Mr. Dalizon’s article got the facts completely wrong. A certain “Charlotte Marie Datiles” indeed died during the August 28, 1987 coup d’etat. She was not the girlfriend of Senator Benigno “Noynoy” S. Aquino III nor was she in the same car as the senator.
According to Ramon Tulfo in his September 9, 1987 column “On Target” that appeared in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, she was the 19-year-old girlfriend of a certain Lt. Teodoro Sanchez, an undercover operative of the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

Tulfo wrote: “Sanchez and Datiles and another ISAFP agent were passing by Malacañang aboard a car during the attack on the palace. They came from a mission following up a lead in the slaying of Local Government Secretary Jaime Ferrer. Sanchez’s car was sandwiched between the Palace guards and the rebels firing at each other.”
A copy of the said article is attached. While we all expect evil propaganda of this nature to continue as the election nears, we have no doubt that truth will prevail in the end. We must not be distracted in the campaign to fight for what is right. The Filipino people deserve nothing less. Our call remains: “Tanggaling ang tiwali, itama ang mali!”
Sincerely,
Florencio “Butch” Abad
Campaign Manager

Your Midfielder

Fernando G. Gagelonia has been a working journalist for some 30 years with focus on news and public affairs in TV and radio, in both the private and government sectors.

Now writing independently, Ding began At Midfield in the Critique section of The Philippine Chronicle in August 2007. He is a Contributor in the political writing collective Filipino Voices and is Editor-In-Chief of Filipino News Network, .